Forget the sugar plums. All year long, we’ve had visions of holiday gatherings dancing in our heads. Coming together in stores, restaurants and living rooms, without masks or other pandemic-related worries. At the risk of sounding Grinch-y, we’re not quite there yet. At just about the time many of us were tucking in for Thanksgiving dinner, news broke about the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Travel restrictio...

Much is made about process in town government. Process offers a way of keeping order and ensuring that targeted goals and objectives are met, and it provides a way for stakeholders to easily buy into those objectives. Every once in a while, however, we see examples of what can happen when that process errs. In Orleans, a concept to possibly site a new fire station on Nauset Regional Middle School land was brou...

A Collaborative Approach To Clean Energy Editor: As an Orleans native, I have followed current news on wind projects on Cape Cod with interest. I have noticed the complaints against these projects center around two primary arguments: the lack of visual appeal of the turbines and the navigational hazards they create. While these arguments have degrees of merit, there is nothing to say that we cannot address ...

Over the half century that Juliet Bernstein called Chatham home, she created a legacy that few can match. An activist most of her adult life, she came to town with no plans to make waves, but in many ways she couldn't help herself, and where she saw discrimination and injustice, she spoke out. Mrs. Bernstein, who died last week at 108, left the community a better place. Her many accomplishments have been detai...

It’s the time of year for taking stock of blessings, and we have plenty at The Chronicle. We’re thankful for our hardworking staff, for our stalwart advertisers – and for you, our family of readers. At a time when other Cape hometown papers are being closed down by their corporate owners, we’re thankful to be independently owned and going strong. And as a community we’re grateful to be slowly emerging from the pa...

Response To Airport Critic Editor: There is an amendment to the town’s charter before the charter review committee concerning the makeup and responsibilities of the Chatham Airport Commission. The proposer, David Bixby, claims this amendment is “For the town and airport commission to comply with federal and state laws and regulations and the town charter.” This statement, the core of the reasoning for the a...

Editor's note: Over the years, we've published many, many letters from Juliet Bernstein. Always outspoken and opinionated, in many ways she has been the conscience of the community, or at least a certain segment of the community. At 108, she is the town's oldest resident. Last week, she dictated the following to her son Bruce, showing she still has wisdom to impart. In sending this to us, her son said that it ...

When a chairperson of a committee steps down in the middle of a term, the committee typically thanks them for their service and elects a new chair. That didn't happen when Nancy Scott announced she was stepping down as chair of the Monomoy Regional School Committee on Sept. 23. Instead, she simply stated, with no justification other than the move was agreed upon by herself and the superintendent, that at the next...

Resist Airport Changes Editor: I hope that Chatham residents as well as select board and charter review committee members take the time to view the airport commission meeting of Nov. 10. Viewers would gain insight into how the commission treats any citizen who questions their authority or disagrees with them. The commission’s refusal to consider public concerns is why the proposed charter amendment to ha...

Theater Artist Program An Opportunity Editor: I was a recent participant in the Chatham Orpheum Theater's Local Artist Series. I want to thank Kevin McLain and staff for the support the organization provides. The theater is a gem of Chatham and the Cape, brought back by vision, hard work, donations, determination, grit and perseverance by many, who should be applauded. The artist series creates a platfor...

It's time for Chatham and Harwich to join Orleans and other Lower Cape towns and support young families by paying for universal pre-school education. Although this was a recommendation of the Chatham 365 Task Force two years ago, the select board balked at providing full funding to subsidize pre-school costs for Chatham youngsters. They opted instead to increase funding of the town's childcare voucher program....

It's about time Chatham adopted regulations governing food trucks. Had officials buckled down and done so two years ago, after several downtown restaurants objected to food trucks during the Mondays on Main music events, it might not have been such a nightmare trying to get lunch or dinner at a brick and mortar restaurant this past summer. That was the consensus at a public forum held by the select board Nov. ...